About

$10,292

pledged of $2,850 goal

278

backers

**NOTE regarding reward level 6 "Adventurer" - There is a discrepancy with the shipping options for this reward. The prices for US and international shipping were accidentally swapped, resulting in the US shipping price being $7 more than we intended. If you choose this reward along with US shipping, you will be refunded this $7 following the completion of the campaign. No alterations will be made to the price of international shipping.**

THE GAME

Experience exploration and adventure like never before! In the premier title from Out of Sight Games, you are a traveler thrust into a world of possibilities when you find the city of Farhaven under attack by a mysterious foe. Along with a small band of allies, you must explore the surrounding lands, discover the identity of your enigmatic foe, and save Farhaven from certain conquest. Do you have what it takes to answer a hero’s call?

A Hero’s Call is the premier title from Out of Sight Games. It’s a game originally designed for blind gamers – but inclusion is important to us, and we’re taking steps to make the game as accessible to sighted players as we can, as well. The game is a fantasy RPG with a strong focus on story and exploration – elements that blind gamers rarely get to enjoy to the same extent as sighted gamers. Read on to learn more about us, our game, and how you can help make it a reality.

To help you get a feel for the kind of game we’ve created, and for the awesomeness of our voice cast, we’ve prepared a demo of one of the game’s many side-quests. This is an audio-only demo, so if you’re not a blind gamer, you’ll have a chance to experience the game as we do - complete with the different sound cues we use to navigate the game world.

OUR HISTORY

A couple of years ago, a blind writer and composer met a blind programmer. Both had lost their sight as young adults, and both had grown up playing mainstream video games. Both had particularly enjoyed the RPG genre for its compelling narratives, and the thrill of exploring vast and exciting lands. Both mourned the fact that no accessible game on the market quite offered that experience to blind gamers.

So we decided to do something about it. We didn’t have any budget apart from what was in our pockets, and we didn’t have any experience with something of this magnitude – but what we did have was love of games and a deep-seated yearning to once again play the sort of games we used to enjoy. And so, A Hero’s Call was born. Initially, the game was intended as a small project, mostly for the purpose of testing game mechanics and other design elements. But before long, it took on a life of its own, growing into a full-featured game to rival anything currently available to blind gamers.

As the project grew, so did our plans for the future. We’ve branded ourselves Out of Sight Games, and now our team has expanded to include a dedicated sound designer; he isn’t blind, but he shares our interest in the immersive aspects of game audio, and a second programmer who is focusing on the visual experience for our sighted players. Really, we’re still just a group of hobbyists, trying our best to make a game – but we’re pretty darn proud of what we’ve accomplished. And we aren’t done yet. We’re already taking the lessons we’ve learned and are planning ways to apply them to future projects more ambitious than A Hero’s Call.

THE PROBLEM

Fairly early in the process, we realized one thing that would tip the scale and make A Hero’s Call the kind of rewarding, immersive game experience we’d been craving: fully voice-acted dialogue. But unlike the handful of fully voice-acted audio games currently available, which are able to limit their voice-acting requirements because of the game’s fairly linear nature, A Hero’s Call is an RPG. That means we want lots of characters and dynamic conversations. At the same time, we wanted something story-driven, with deep, emotionally resonant characters. It didn’t take long before we realized that the amount of dialogue needed for a game like this went far beyond anything we could record in-house, or expect to accomplish without an actual budget.

That’s where you come in! The game itself is practically done. All you’re funding is the reimbursement of our voice actors. Why do we need so much money just for that? Well, perhaps it’ll help to know that there are well over 17,000 words of dialogue in this game. And by helping fund this project, you won’t just be helping us…

There’s a community of really phenomenal amateur and hobbyist voice actors out there. Like us, they don’t make games to make tons of money but because they love doing it. These are people who would love to have opportunities to showcase their talents and make a product that is really going to mean something to its audience. They’re people who deserve to be heard – and some of them are really, really good. So it’s only fair that we offer them as reasonable of compensation as we can. By helping us make this game, you’ll be helping these voice actors make some money for their craft, and will be giving them a platform from which to showcase their talents. And since Out of Sight Games plans to use the profits from A Hero’s Call to fund future releases, you’ll be generating potential work for these artists in the future, as well.

WRAP-UP

If you’re still curious about the game, you can find more demos and information at www.outofsightgames.com, and by reading the detailed game description beneath below. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @OutOfSightGames.

Discover an expansive world – Venture forth from the town of Farhaven to explore mysterious forests, goblin-infested tunnels, haunted catacombs, and much more. With 17 unique maps, you’ll always have new lands to explore. Follow an innovative turn-by-turn beacon system to locations you’ve already discovered, or venture out on your own—you never know what you might find!

Gather your allies – Expand your party with four unique allies: the feisty daughter of a powerful governor, a noble ranger with a troubled past, an idealistic priestess, and a sarcastic thief with a heart (and pockets full) of gold. Each brings their own skills and bonuses to the party, and opens up new possibilities in the world of Farhaven. Talking to your party members and traveling with them will open character-specific quest opportunities that delve deeper into each party member's personality and history.

Engage with a dynamic world – Meet over 40 NPCs, with dynamic behaviors and dialogues affected by your choices and actions. Some will need your help, others may choose to join you in battle. The ways they interact with you may change depending on who is in your party, certain quests you have completed, or even the way you talk to them, so always remember that your choices have consequences.

Build your character – Choose from one of six different classes, each with unique skills, and tailor your attributes for your specific style of play. Will you be a stealthy thief? A hardy warrior? A strong-willed mage? The choice is yours.

Hone your skills – Gain experience to level up and learn new skills, then spend your hard-earned expertise to upgrade skills for added damage or new effects. With over 80 unique options to choose from, you can develop any combat style. Will you wield melee or ranged weapons? Strike down your opponents with the power of the elements, or attack from the shadows? Heal and defend with holy magic, or strike terror with the powers of necromancy?

Customize your gear – Buy equipment from shops, take it from fallen enemies, or discover it as you explore. With hundreds of items to choose from, you will always be able to choose the armor and weapons that best suit your character.

Test your might – As you explore, encounter over 70 different enemies—from bandits and wolves to giant spiders, golems, and dragons, you will never be lacking for foes to vanquish. Turn-based combat provides ease of access for blind and sighted players of all skill levels, while positional audio puts you in the center of visceral, action-packed battles.

Build your legend – Whether you pursue the main story, or one of the dozens of side quests, you will be part of an epic narrative. And as you explore lands with a rich history, read lore in books and scrolls, and talk to the citizens of Farhaven, you’ll feel like yours is just part of a much larger story.

STRETCH GOALS

A Hero's Call has been successfully funded! A huge thank you to all of our backers for their support!

The campaign is FAR from over, and so we've come up with the following stretch goals that we would love to see met so that we can make an even better experience for our players:

Stretch Goal #1 - $3,700 (Funded!) - Dialogue Expansion: Meeting this benchmark will allow us to add significantly to the dialogue base, making the game deeper, more expansive, and more dynamic. And guess what? You guys have already gotten us there!

Stretch Goal #2 - $4,900 (Funded!) - Graphics: Reaching this funding goal will allow us to commission terrain and UI graphics to bring the visual presentation of the game to a new level.

Stretch Goal #3 - $5,300 (Funded!) - Sound Upgrade: After improving the graphics, this next goal would allow us to purchase additional sound assets to diversify and refine the sounds that make up the world of the game.

Stretch Goal #4 - TBA: We're still doing some research to get a handle on the cost of the next thing we would want to do - more information coming soon!

Risks and challenges

A Hero's Call has been in development for quite some time now. In fact, the majority of the game has already been designed and built, save for voice-acting, some remaining sound design, and the expansion of the game's visuals. We have carried the game this far without any financial backing to this point, and we have no reason to believe that the game will not be released in 2017. Life is, of course, full of unexpected surprises, especially with a indie team made of only a handful of individuals, but barring some extreme occurrence such as a meltdown of the Internet itself, you can rest assured that A Hero's Call will be completed.

Support

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Pledge $5 or more
About $5

Level 1 - Friend of Farhaven

If you support this game, even a little, we think you're pretty cool - and we want everyone else to think so, too. That's why everyone who pledges at least $5 will get a special thanks in the game's credits - and what's cooler than that?

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Pledge $20 or more
About $20

Level 3 - Trailblazer

You aren't a follower - you venture into the unknown, and you're the first to do so. It's a good thing, since only the first five people to donate at this amount can snag a tactile print of the game's cover art with their copy of the game at this early-bird price!

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Pledge $45 or more
About $45

Level 5 - Treasure Hunter

You have a keen eye for the rarest of prizes, and you’re always the first to get your hands on them. That’s probably why you’re getting the two-disc collector’s edition of the game (complete with a copy of the original soundtrack, plus tactile cover art on the case) for this special price.

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Pledge $45 or more
About $45

Level 6 - Adventurer

Someone with such a spirit of adventure deserves nothing but the best gear. That's why the digital download of the game received by Adventurer donors will be accompanied by an exclusive in-game pack of items only unlockable by donating to this campaign.

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Pledge $60 or more
About $60

Level 7 - Keeper of Relics

Your collection won’t be complete without at least one of every curiosity. The two-disc collectors’ edition (complete with a copy of the original soundtrack, plus tactile cover art on the case) of A Hero’s Call will make a fine addition.

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Pledge $100 or more
About $100

Level 8 - Councilmember

If you've donated at this level, we're assuming you have a keen interest in what we're doing. So we want to give you the opportunity to talk to us in person about the game development process. That's why the first six people to pledge $100 or more will receive the opportunity for a one-hour conference call with the Out of Sight Games team.

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Pledge $135 or more
About $135

Level 9 - City Founder

The people who help bring Farhaven to life should be commemorated in its history. How better to do that than to immortalize them in a quest-related easter egg involving the very founding of Farhaven itself? That illustrious prize awaits the first five donors at this level.

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Pledge $200 or more
About $200

Level 10 - Patron of the Arts

This level is reserved for the most loyal and committed donors. You're stepping out on faith and telling us that you believe in what we're doing, so we want to return the favor, by guaranteeing that the first four people to donate $200 or more will receive any and all future releases from Out of Sight Games, completely free of charge.

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Pledge $2,850 or more
About $2,850

Level 11

If you fully fund this project (or otherwise meet the original funding goal), you will have the opportunity to collaborate with Out of Sight Games on the creation of a brand-new, playable, fully-voiced NPC created in your honor - just in case you want to make sure nobody forgets who single-handedly funded the voice acting for this game.